Anyone who has ever traveled outside of the U.S will undoubtably notice how much more beautiful cities, for example, in Europe are compared to the suburban sprawl that is found almost everywhere in America.
How did the places Americans live and work get to be so ugly and dysfunctional. In A Short History of America, artist R. Crumb depicts the evolution of one place in American from it’s beginnings as an idyllic rural setting to the modern suburb with the ubiquitous strip malls and used car lots.
At one time, maybe from about 1890 to 1950, there were streetcars in every town in America. There were also light rail lines connecting one city to another. These are all gone now, torn up and replaced with roads for private automobiles.
Undoubtably, the American automobile culture, driven by cheap gasoline, played a major factor in shaping the American landscape. What does the future hold for suburbia if oil and gasoline ceases to be inexpensive?
